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Former Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Endorses Donald Trump in Speech at Republican National Convention; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) Interviewed on Donald Trump Picking J.D. Vance as His Vice Presidential Running Mate; Secret Service Director: Agency was "Solely Responsible" for Security at Trump Rally; Biden Courts Black Voters at NAACP Convention in New Interview. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2024 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were doing a routine sort of gathering and then happened to come upon this. What's your reaction to just sort of the anger around this right now?

MAYOR CAVALIER JOHNSON, (D) MILWAUKEE: I understand where some of the anger has come from, because they were now local police officers. But in my conversations with officers, including local police officer, any officer, any officer in that same situation where they witnessed somebody who is going to cause death or serious bodily harm to somebody with a John, or in this case with a knife, not just one knife, but two knives, would have taken the exact same acts to preserve life very quickly.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very quickly, Donald Trump did call yesterday.

JOHNSON: He did.

YOUNG: What did he say?

JOHNSON: Mr. Trump was very gracious in his call. We wanted to talk about the security and how pleased he was with that, and that's what the call was about.

YOUNG: Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Kate. Back to you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan, thank you so much for that, and thank you to the mayor for his time as well. We've got much more. We're going to track that.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

And top of the hour, I'm Kate Bolduan here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, back inside for day three of the Republican convention here in the convention hall. Today we are standing by for the, we'll call it the second most important speaker of the week to take the stage behind us. Donald Trump tomorrow will be speaking. Tonight, his vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance steps into the spotlight with what is likely the biggest speech of his political career so far. Its V.P. night here at the convention, and so Vance is now just hours away from his first and first for some, and reintroduction to some Republicans and Democratic voters alike, speaking to the Republican hopefuls -- faithfuls that are in the hall, but also it could be, he could be setting the tone and the stage for his future face-to-face with the current Vice President Kamala Harris.

CNN's Alayna Treene leads us off this hour. She's joining us now. Alayna, you have new reporting just today about what he plans to say, what he wants to convey in this big speech. What are you learning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, that's right, Kate, I spoke with someone who helped work on his remarks, and they essentially told me that this speech is going to focus on his life story, his biography. And I don't think anyone would question that he really has had an incredible journey. He went from someone who grew up in a very poor rustbelt town in Ohio. He had a pretty unstable childhood. His family struggled with opioid addiction.

But he went on to become a Marine, to go to Yale Law School, to work in venture capitalism, be successful businessman. He was a bestselling author. And then of course he went into the Senate, and only after a year-and-a-half in the Senate, he has now how been picked as Donald Trump's running mate. So it is a pretty remarkable journey.

And again, he's only 39-years-old, so he's still fairly young now.

I also think what's important to keep an eye out for, Kate, is the undercurrents that have been percolating within the Republican Party. J.D. Vance is really seen as someone who could be a torchbearer of the MAGA movement. And I'm told when I've talked to Donald Trump's campaign, they've said that that's actually something that has been important to the former president. He wanted to pick somebody who he thought could carry on the movement that he has started and really keep discussing the political agenda, the America first agenda that Donald Trump has really drilled into all Republicans minds, even beyond the end of Donald Trump's own political career.

BOLDUAN: And Alayna, also taking a look, a quick look back at last night, it was like rivals' night on the stage. Five of Trumps former campaign rivals with a resounding embrace and endorsement of Donald Trump from the stage and their speeches. I mean, he was sitting there watching it all play out. What are you hearing from his team, how they feel about how that went last night and the message that was conveyed?

TREENE: Well, what happened last night is exactly what they were hoping for. They really wanted to have Donald Trump's former political foes, people like Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, those that he had attacked viciously, but also had attacked him viciously and had argued they may not ever vote for him or that he doesn't belong in the White House again, they wanted them to come up on stage and say you need to elect Donald Trump.

I think Nikki Haley in particular was very effective and kind of remarkable to see her switch from saying that she didn't think Donald Trump was fit to be president once again to her applauding him and saying she's endorsing him. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our country is at a critical moment. We have a choice to make. For more than a year, I said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris.

[08:05:03]

After seeing the debate, everyone knows it's true. If we have four more years of Biden or a single day of Harris our country will be badly worse off. For this sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Kate, it is interesting as well. I think what Donald Trump's campaign is also trying to do is target those more moderate or conservative leaning independent voters, Nikki Haley's voters, in November. That's really core to their campaign strategy and what they think will be a very close election. And what we saw Nikki Haley do is give her own voters permission to vote for Donald Trump in the fall. Kate?

BOLDUAN: She sure did in that speech, very directly. It's good to see you, Alayna, thank you so much.

Joining me right now here in Milwaukee at the sight of the convention, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He had a primetime speaking slot on the convention stage last night. I saw you up there, Senator, and then saw you sitting with the president in his family box as well. Thank you so much for being here.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about J.D. Vance. I've heard a lot in the lead up to his night tonight of, one, he can appeal to working class voters, he can appeal to suburban women, Donald Trump Junior saying he can appeal to young voters. It feels like a lot is being put on him for his appeal, appeal, appeal. What do you think is most important that J.D. Vance should do for this campaign?

COTTON: Well, I think Americans are going to love J.D. Vance and his wife Usha and there are beautiful kids. They're going to love his story. I think he'll appeal to all Americans. I mean, this is the land of second chances, and J.D. Vance, as we just heard, had kind of a tough upbringing. His mom dealt with addiction. His father wasn't really president. He was raised by his grandparents. He wrote a bestselling, wonderful memoir about that. I think a lot of Americans can identify with the struggles that young J.D. Vance went through.

He got into the Marine Corps. He said that that helped learn help teach him the maturity and the discipline to be a strong contributing member of our society, had tremendous and to success at law school and finance, and then went into politics. I think the American people are going to love J.D. Vance and his story. I think they're going to be able to see him as someone who can understand the struggles that hard- working Americans go through every day. He will be very important counselor and adviser to President Trump.

BOLDUAN: One thing I want to ask you about what -- about J.D. Vance and his agenda, his career and his record in the Senate so far is he really has become the most vocal opponent of U.S. support to Ukraine that at least, at least in the Senate, I mean, track the things that he's said. With Vance joining the ticket, do you think Ukraine or NATO allies should be nervous that U.S. support for Ukraine could dry up? What is the message that sentence?

COTTON: No, I don't. I mean, President Trump has always been strong in defense of Ukraine. The reason why Ukraine was able to win the battle of Kyiv in the early days of this war is because President Trump sent them the Javelins and other weapons they needed, something that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had failed to do.

One point that J.D. Vance has consistently made with which I strongly agree is that we need a much stronger industrial and manufacturing base, in this country.

BOLDUAN: So it's not draining --

COTTON: Yes. He's concerned, as am I, as are many Republicans that if we have war in Europe with Ukraine, if we have war in the Middle East with Iran and all of its proxies from Hamas and Hezbollah and outlaw rebels in Yemen, and we have China threatening war in Taiwan, that are current defense industry and our manufacturing base cannot support all of those wars and our defense as well. That's something that we have to fix. That's something I know that President Trump will fix.

BOLDUAN: It's just things that I've heard him say, like, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other, that it just doesn't square with what I know is that bipartisan support that exists for Ukraine in the Congress. And when it comes to, if that's the place that a V.P. comes from and joins the ticket, what happens with that when it comes to -- obviously, it's Donald Trump's ticket?

COTTON: President Trump has said from the beginning that Vladimir Putin shouldn't have invaded Ukraine, that this was an unprovoked war of aggression, and that he wants to see it brought to a peaceful conclusion. But he's also said that he's going to support Ukraine as well. And again, the thing that J.D. Vance is concerned about that we should all be concerned about is that we've led our manufacturing base in this country atrophy to the point where we may have to start making hard decisions.

BOLDUAN: You're not worried.

COTTON: I'm not worried at all. I know at J.D. Vance believes in a strong and competent America. The way you are strong and competent is to have a healthy, prosperous economy with a strong manufacturing base that makes stuff, makes defense materials, make stuff for our economy. That's what he wants to bring -- that's what he campaigned on when he was running for Senate in Ohio. Thats what he's worked on in the Senate over this last year-and-a-half. And I know that that's what he's going to help President Trump do.

BOLDUAN: On the assassination attempt, I was seeing that there's an all-senators unclassified briefing, phone briefing later today.

[08:10:05]

You're on all the relevant committees. Have you received any update that you can -- have you guys received any information about what's known or not?

COTTON: Not really, Kate. Just to be frank, since the assassination attempt on Saturday, we've been out of session. I haven't been near a classified phone or a classified space. I don't have the critical classified details. I've heard the reports that the administration said they've had a threat on President Trump's life from Iran. That sounds like something Iran would do. There are several former members of Donald Trump's administration who still have bodyguards to this day because of Iranian death threats.

I am concerned, again, about the lapse in security planning on Saturday and that if what we saw Saturday was the enhanced security detail that President Trump had because of the Iranian threat, the senior leadership at the Secret Service really has a lot of explaining to do and we need to understand why that lapse happened. Again, it's not to take any away from the bravery and skill of President Trump's detail and all those officers and law enforcement officers who helped protect not just the president, but the crowd as well. But the senior leadership of the Secret Service has some serious answers to provide.

BOLDUAN: You're also on judiciary, and President Biden, we have reporting that he is seriously considering publicly endorsing major reforms the to the Supreme Court, including, among them, chief among them, term limits for the nine justices, pushing for it. There's even talk about trying to pursue a constitutional amendment. Is that something you would support?

COTTON: No. I think our Supreme Court is constituted well. It's been like this for more than 100 years. President Biden doesn't like some of the decisions that this court has issued. But I would point out that this court is not a partisan court. They've had many nine-nothing decisions this year. They've had split decisions that don't break down cleanly over ideological lines. What you have is a court that follows the law and applies the law to the facts.

Justice Scalia, one of the great justice of all time, famously said, if you don't sometimes disagree with your result as a judge, you're not judging right. And I think most of the justices on this court would in fact disagree as a personal matter with the opinions they reach, but they reach them because that's the right decision on the law and on the facts. Those are the kind of justices that Donald Trump appointed when he was president for four years. If he's elected again, those are the kind of justices he'll appoint again in the future.

BOLDUAN: It is the Supreme Court, hugely important when it comes to who is chosen as president. And it definitely seems that a lot of people do believe that politics has seeped into the court these days. But this is why it's become a huge conversation as part of this election. It's great to see you, Senator. Thank you very much for coming in.

COTTON: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Good to see you here.

John, Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, thank you, Kate.

Her life changed overnight, and now she could become the second lady of the United States. Who is Usha Vance? A closer look at the wife of Trumps vice presidential pick J.D. Vance.

And misleading and flat-out false claims. Our Daniel Dale back again for a fact check of some of last night's speakers at the Republican National Convention.

And President Biden is making a strong push to try and secure support among minority voters. How he's doing so ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:38]

BERMAN: In an exclusive interview with CNN's Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, now says her agency was solely responsible for security at the site of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Cheatle also responded to exclusive CNN reporting on increased security around Trump that came after intelligence on a possible Iranian assassination plot targeting Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY CHEATLE, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: With all of our protectees, we're constantly monitoring the threats that are out there and we design our security plan based on that and also, depending on the venue and the environment that we're in.

And on that particular day, a full advance had been completed, but this is also why we are doing an internal review and we look forward to the external review as well and obviously, if there are things that we need to change about our policies, or our procedures, or our methods, we are certainly going to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The service says they had increased security surrounding Trump before the Saturday rally -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, CNN chief national security analyst and anchor, Jim Sciutto is joining me now with more on this. Jim, what are you learning? I know there were sources telling CNN that

no indication that the gunman at Saturday's rally had any ties to the Iranian plot, but what are you hearing in your reporting?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND ANCHOR: To be clear, yes. The attempt on Saturday is not tied to this information, but this information about an alleged Iranian plot against a former US president, current candidate for president, is truly alarming.

We should put some context here, that this is a foreign state and adversary of the US attempting to take out a former and possibly future leader of the United States. And it's interesting here because going back to the year 2020, when you'll remember the US, under the direction of Donald Trump, took out Qasem Soleimani in a strike in Iraq.

At the time, sources told me that Iran's retaliation might not come in weeks or months, it might come in years, or its attempted retaliation. And if the information behind this plot is true, if the intelligence is correct, that would be years later and quite a brazen attempt and not the first time.

Remember, John Bolton, Trump's former National Security adviser, he faced his own threat. He still goes around with security today because there is Iranian plot against him. There is an Iranian plot against the Saudi ambassador here in Washington, not American, but that plot aimed to take him out with a bomb at a restaurant here in DC.

[08:20:06]

I mean, that speaks to what Iran might be willing to do, right? To carry out its intents in interests abroad, and I will say this, Iran is denying any connection. But listen to their statement, they said the following: "These accusations are unsubstantiated and malicious. From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice."

So even in the denial, Sara, they point to the cause or at least the theorized cause of this plot, that this was and attempted or at least an alleged plot to carry out retaliation for that strike.

SIDNER: And we know the reach of Iran, all you have to do is ask author, Salman Rushdie, about what his life has been like and what happened to him being stabbed multiple times.

Can you tell us about this new bulletin that has also come forward after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life from the FBI and the DHS, what are they warning of?

SCIUTTO: They're warning of a couple of things. One, they're warning about the specific dangers of outdoor rallies. Outdoor rallies are just harder for them to secure and this is a message that have been passed on before from those in the Secret Service.

Donald Trump likes outdoor rallies, but they're fundamentally harder to secure than indoor events. So that's one in piece of this.

The other piece is, they are deeply concerned about retaliatory attacks in response to this, that those on the extreme right wing extremist groups might -- and some of them, frankly, who are buying some of the worst conspiracy theories floating around out there that perhaps this was an inside job, right?

That they might then target Security Services or even those tied to President Biden in part because of those conspiracy theories in retaliation for this attack. They're talking about lone actors, hoax bomb threats, swatting, attempts to attack election related infrastructures, you see there, and leaking of official's personal information.

And what strikes me, Sara, looking at this warning here, is that all of those things there are things that have happened, right?

Extremist groups have used these methods to go after election workers, to go after, you may remember there was an armed attack on an FBI office, right, in the past.

So, the basis of this threat doesn't come from nothing. It comes from tactics they've already seen and tactics they fear might be used again now.

SIDNER: Yes, and it bears repeating that the shooter was a registered Republican as was his father, where he got the gun.

Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for your reporting on all this, appreciate you this morning.

SCIUTTO: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, the Trump and Biden campaigns, in a race to secure minority voters and Elon Musk moving the SpaceX headquarters out of California. What he says was the final straw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:19]

BERMAN: This morning, President Biden, on the campaign trail courting minority voters. The president spoke to Black voters in Nevada, a key demographic in a key state, he will do the same with Latino voters shortly.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez at the White House. Priscilla, what's the plan?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, John, these are two voting blocs that have shown waning support for President Biden, so he is trying to shore that back up with this stop in Nevada, both appealing to Black voters and Latino voters, but he's also tasked with navigating a quite delicate political moment.

The president really starting the campaign again in earnest just yesterday after letting it sort of sit on pause after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.

So, yesterday's remarks were really focused on policy versus attacking the former president personally and also extending prayers to the former president.

On the policy front though, he made the point that his record has been better for Black communities, going after for example, the former president's remarks on Black jobs. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love his phrase, "Black jobs" --

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: It tells a lot about the man and about his character. Folks, I know what a Black job is, it's the vice president of the United States.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: I know what a Black job is, the first Black President in America is Barack Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the president also talked about -- his record on healthcare for the Black community. He talked about Trump's response to the pandemic.

And today, we will hear more of an extension of all of those arguments as he appeals to Latino voters, but he will also be making some announcements on immigration, including a date for when those spouses and children of US citizens who are undocumented can apply for legal status. Remember, that's an announcement that he made last month, in an attempt to appeal to those voters.

And then two, he'll make an announcement about the Department of Education proposing a rule to help low-income DREAMers and DACA recipients get the funding that they need to go to school.

So, look, all of this is an attempt by the president to get these voters behind him as he looks toward know November. But all of these stops too come with the increased scrutiny from members of his own party about whether or not he has what it takes to be the candidate and the Democratic nominee.

So, all of this is certainly high stakes, not only in shoring up those voters, but also in convincing members of his own party that he is up to the task.

BERMAN: Under the microscope to be sure.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much -- Kate. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us right now on all of that is

CNN political commentator, former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton, Karen Finney and Jason Osborne, former senior adviser to the Trump 2016 campaign.

Hello, friends.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello.

BOLDUAN: Good morning. Thank you for waking up early.

Let's start with what Priscilla was talking about and what she was highlighting.

[08:30:12]